What does HRESULT 0x80042912 (VDS_E_CLEAN_WITH_CRITICAL) mean?

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VDS refuses to clean a disk that contains a current critical Windows volume role.

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VDS_E_CLEAN_WITH_OEM	VDS_E_FORMAT_CRITICAL

VDS_E_CLEAN_WITH_CRITICAL

This is the non-overridable critical-role branch of the VDS Clean contract. Microsoft lists the operating-system loader, boot volume, pagefile, hibernation file, crash-dump use, and EFI System Partition among system-volume conditions that deny cleaning regardless of the ordinary force parameters. The status must not be handled by simply setting bForce or bForceOEM to TRUE.

Why this state matters

The safe diagnostic is to prove which critical role is present and stop the destructive workflow. VDS disk flags expose boot, system, pagefile, hibernation, and crash-dump roles. An unattended provisioning tool should surface those role flags in its error report and require the disk to be repurposed from a different boot environment or after supported system configuration changes.

Diagnostic focus

Capture all critical VDS_DISK_FLAG role bits on the target disk.
Map the disk volumes and ESP partitions before any alternate cleanup tool is considered.
Do not increase Clean force flags; the documented critical-system block remains regardless of ordinary force consent.
If disk repurposing is intentional, perform it from an environment where the disk no longer carries a current protected role.

Technical references

IVdsAdvancedDisk::Clean · VDS_DISK_FLAG · VDS_DISK_PROP · MS-VDS error codes · VDS common return codes

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